


This is gonna take a miracle...

by MelTheMel



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/F, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, set around 6 years after Sword and Shield
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelTheMel/pseuds/MelTheMel
Summary: The world of Pokémon is in danger again! This time, the threat is a mysterious group known as the Miracle Eye. The only thing standing between them and… Whatever they're planning to do is a plucky group of teens! Fortunately for the world, the Galar league is about to start up, featuring many promising young trainers who will surely step up to the task! …And then there's the world's worst psychic and a Blipbug.
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Metanoia for betaing for me! You caught a ton of stuff that my ADHD brain couldn't.

“Zamazenta is unable to battle! Gloria wins the match!” the commentator announced.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Galar’s champion and Professor Sonia’s assistant shook hands in the middle of the stadium. A reporter ran onto the pitch towards the pair, her exasperated camera crew chasing after her.

“Ack, I thought I might’ve finally had one up on you this time, mate,” Hop sighed, “I guess my knowledge on Pokémon’s still no match for your battling skills.”

“Well, I’ve not been Galar’s champion for six years straight for no reason!” Gloria said, smiling at Hop, “You’d probably have got me with that fancy new strategy o’ yours too, if me and me Pokémon hadn’t decided to spend an entire day in the battle tower.”

“Yeah, I heard you absolutely wiped the floor with Lee’s Charizard!”

“What can I say? Coalossal’s the ultimate counter to a Fire an’ Flying type like Charizard. Anyway, this was fun. It’s nice to have a fight that’s not completely one sided from time to time.”

“You’d better be prepared then, mate! Next time I’ll get you for sure!”

“Oooh, did I just miss some juicy drama?” the enthusiastic reporter butted in, “Or could there be love in the air between these two rivals?”

Hop looked awkwardly at Gloria, who looked like she was about to slap the reporter across the face. Fortunately the camera crew caught up to them before any trouble was caused.

“Ah, yes, any way… Don’t forget to get yourselves an endorsement and get to Motostoke now, as the Galar league opening ceremony starts in five days and counting! Once it’s happened, registrations are closed! Beat all eight gyms to gain access to the final tournament hosted here in Wyndon and the chance to challenge Galar’s strongest champion to date, Gloria!”

“I hope one o’ you out there has what it takes to take me on in an all out battle! Good luck trainers!” Gloria half spoke, half yelled at the camera.

“You heard it here first! We’ll be back with more epic content after the break!”

The cameras cut off as Gloria and Hop headed off the pitch. The audience began to gather their things to leave, when suddenly there was a deep rumbling sound and a ball of flame erupted from the changing rooms.


	2. Game Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivy McKee, self proclaimed world's worst psychic, celebrates her 16th birthday by enjoying one of her favourite game shows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks to Metanoia for betaing this!

“Aand welcome back to the latest episode of _Ultimate Pokémon Trivia Battle_! The show where Pokémon trivia skills are put to the test for a chance to win big bucks! Yes, even you, the viewer watching at home, can win up to 1000 pokédollars by answering our phone-in quiz! And seeing as this week is the _Battle Network_ ’s Galar League countdown, you might even win an endorsement for the Galar league! Remember, you need to be 16 years of age or older to play! You may be old enough to train Pokémon, but you’re not quite old enough to take part in live TV shows. Ridiculous, I know, but that’s the rules! Anyway, I’m your host Jeffrey Jones, and these are today’s contestants!”

Ivy laughed. She had been preparing for this moment ever since she was little. It was her sixteenth birthday today, and she was going to ace this. The timing was perfect. Since it was her birthday, her parents had let her take the day off training and relax. Even then, they would never let her do this. Fortunately, they’d left to go run some errands. She’d sat through Champion Gloria and Hop’s exhibition battle, but now was finally her time to shine. Jeffrey went through his usual schtick of introducing the contestants for the main event, with the help of some over-the-top special effects provided by his Hatterene. Usually, she enjoyed watching the flamboyant Jeffrey dramatise each contestant's background to absurd levels, but today she wished she could fast forward time.

“Thank you, Maya. And that’s all our contestants for today! Before we get started with Battle 1, it’s time for you folks at home to show us what you're made of! Get your phones ready people, our quiz taker is gonna be the first person to text us the correct answer to this question: Which gigantamaxed Pokémon is capable of using G-Max Gravitas?”

It was as if she had used Agility. Her fingers worked in a frenzy to type the answer out on her old brick of a phone. In a matter of seconds, she had sent the text, but could she really have beaten all the other people with their fancy new Rotom-powered smartphones?

“I can see all your texts are rolling in! Ah, here’s the first one… Nope, it’s not Hatterene! It’s not Corviknight either! “Spotty red bug type Pokémon” is close, but not quite there. ‘Itnwwflesfgk’? Sorry, are you okay? Here we go! Yup, the correct answer is Orbeetle! So, let's give our contestant a call and see if they pick up!"

Jeffrey was about to pick up the pink sparkly phone to ring the lucky contestant, when a distant rumbling was heard.

"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, something seems to have happened nearby and we need to-" was all Jeffrey could say before the TV cut to the Wyndon stadium changing rooms, where the lightly singed reporter was dusting herself off. Ivy groaned in exasperation. What could possibly be happening now?

"Breaking news! There has just been an attack on Wyndon stadium! Someone just decided to try and blow up our beloved champion right here in the changing rooms!!”

“Why are you so damn excited about that?” Gloria yelled from off camera.

 _Oh great_ , Ivy thought. If she were a trainer with some good strong pokemon, she’d make whatever terrorist did this pay for interrupting her favourite show.

“Fortunately, everyone here is fine! Ooh, look over there!” the reporter seemed to forcefully turn the cameraman around to face one of the walls, where an eye symbol had been sprayed on the wall, “Are you seeing this? This here is the symbol of the Miracle Eye! You know, those people who keep going around, causing trouble and taking Pokémon? Seems like they’re upping their game!”

The reporter rushed over to where Gloria was standing, looking slightly startled but nevertheless unfazed.

“Sooo Gloria, how do you feel about all this?”

“I’d be feeling a bit better if you would get this damn microphone outta me face! Someone just tried to kill me ya know!”

“What about the Galar league?” the reporter continued, ignoring the champion’s request to give her some personal space, “Will it be cancelled? What about all the trainers?”

Gloria let out a hearty laugh.

“Ha! Ya really think we’d cancel the Galar league because we’re scared of some third-rate terrorists? Nah, this doesn’t change anything. We Galarians are known for being damn resilient and that’s not any different now than it was a hundred years ago! Rest assured, trainers! The Galar league isn’t going anywhere!”

“That’s nice to know! If you want to find out more about what just happened, tune into GBC news! You’ll get the latest information as soon as we do!”

Finally, the TV switched back to _Ultimate Pokémon Trivia Battle_. Jeffrey Jones seemed to be doing a dance in front of one of the cameras, but stopped abruptly when he realised they were back on air.

“Okay ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the disturbance! Now, where were we? Ah, yes, we were about to call our lucky contestant for the phone-in quiz!”

He headed over to the pink sparkly phone once again.

“Let’s hope they stuck around after that little diversion!”

Ivy’s phone began to ring. It was ringing. She’d been chosen. She was in with the chance of getting endorsed. She could get an endorsement. She was about to talk on the phone with _the_ Jeffrey Jones. She could get endorsed for the Galar league by Jeffrey Jones himself. She picked up her phone, her hand shaking. Her heart was racing. This was it.

“Uuum, hello?”

The in house audience cheered.

“Welcome to the show!” Jeffrey greeted her, “So, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?”

“Um, well, I’m Ivy. I’m from Postwick and I’ve been watching your show for years! It’s my birthday today, so I can finally participate!”

“Ooh, well, happy birthday to you! You sound like a big fan of the show, but do you have what it takes to win our grand prize and an endorsement to the Galar league?”

“I sure hope so.”

“Well, in that case, let the quiz begin!”

 _Okay, here we go,_ Ivy thought.

“As you could probably tell by our initial question, today’s subject is Psychic types! Our first question is: Can you name three Pokémon that are both Psychic and Fairy type?”

The first question was always one of the easiest.

“Erm, okay, there’s Gardevoir, Hatterene and Galarian Rapidash!”

Jeffrey’s Hatterene looked flattered to have her existence recognised.

“Ding ding ding! That’s one point to you, Ivy! Time for the next question: This Psychic type Pokémon supposedly has an IQ of 5000 and is capable of mega evo-”

“Alakazam?”

“Wow, that was fast, and yes! It’s Alakazam!”

The audience continued to applaud. Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy noticed two figures approaching her house. Her parents were about to arrive. If she got caught doing this, they would not be pleased. She had to win, and fast. Unfortunately, the questions were getting harder.

“Okay, next question: The Pokémon Chingling requires two conditions to evolve into a Chimecho, what are they?”

“Erm… Friendship! Oh, and… Night time!”

“Correct, and correct! Three down, seven to go! Question four reads: Which three evolution lines can learn the move Heart Stamp through leveling up?”

“Okay, this is a tough one… Hmmm…”

“The time is ticking!”

“Erm, the Woobat line, the Smoochum line and…. Erm… Mime Jr.?”

“Wah-wah! You’ve got two lives left! Good luck!”

“Oh right! Luvdisc is the third one!”

“Nice save! Question five’s up next and it says: In some of Xatu’s Pokédex entries, it says that it stands still, rooted in the same place all day! Why does it do this?”

“Ah, I know this one. It does that because it fears the terrible things it’s seen in the future.”

“Correct! Woa-oh! We’re halfway there!”

Ivy saw her parents approach the garden gate. She needed to up her game now, or she was done for.

“Anyway, here’s question six: What is it that gives Malamar a reputation for being popular among criminals?”

“It’s hypnosis is one of the strongest in the world.”

“Yup! You’re on a roll here!”

She could see her parents' silhouettes approaching the front door. They were almost in. She needed to act now or she’d be in for it. This was one of those times she wished her telekinesis would work properly. Then she could move something in the way of the door. But then it would be obvious she’d done it.

“Question number seven: A normal Exeggutor is weak to a whopping _seven_ types! Can you name them all?”

“Okay, Exeggutor is a Grass and Psychic type… So that would mean it would be weak to Dark, Ghost, Bug… Ice, Fire, Flying and… Right, Poison!”

The bolt. She could bring it down and lock the door from the inside. It was leaning in slightly. She might be able to shut it.

“Nice one! Only three left now! Okay, here’s the next one: In a certain region, one of the three Pokémon trainers can receive at the start of their journey evolves into a Psychic type. Which Pokémon-”

“Fennekin, the Fire type starter from Kalos,” Ivy interrupted while simultaneously trying to focus on the iron bolt, “It evolves into Delphox, which is part psychic type.”

“Nice one! Okay, second to last question. What’s the difference between the moves Power Trick and Power Swap?”

Ivy’s free hand was pointed at the bolt, willing it to tip over just a bit more. After what seemed like an eternity, it came down with a loud clang. That would buy her some time for sure.

“Hello? I’m afraid I’ll have to deduct one of your lives because you haven’t answered yet.”

“Wait, right, I’m back, sorry about that. What was the question again?”

“What’s the difference between the moves Power Trick and Power Swap?”

“Okay, so basically Power Trick swaps the user’s attack and defense, while Power Swap swaps the user’s attack and special attack.”

“Impressive. Okay Ivy, this is the final question. You’re down to one life, so it’s all or nothing now!”

Ivy saw the bolt begin to shift. Her parents had figured out it was down and were using their (actually working) telekinesis to lift it up. 

“Your final question is: A certain effect on the battlefield can be invoked with only one move, and one G-max move. It grounds flying or levitating Pokémon and makes moves more accurate among other things. What is the status I’m talking about, and can the Pokémon who can use the G-max move that invokes this status also use the normal move?”

The bolt was rapidly returning to its rightful place beside the door. She had to finish this now. Luckily, the question had given her all the information she needed.

“You’re talking about the gravity status! It can be summoned with the move Gravity, or G-max Gravitas. Orbeetle can use G-max Gravitas, but not Gravity.”

“That is…”

The bolt was back up, the door was unlocked.

“...The correct answer! Congratulations! Unfortunately, because you lost 2 lives you only win 500 pokédollars. However, as promised, you also win an endorsement for the Galar league from none other than my fabulous self!”

The audience went wild.

“Yes! Thank you so much!” Ivy exclaimed, right as her parents came through the door, “Oh no, I think I’m losing the signal… Bye!”

“Oh well, we all know about Postwick’s phone signal issues, amiright?” Jeffrey laughed, “Anyway, congratulations to Ivy. We’ll get in contact with you soon so you can claim your prize.”

Ivy’s mom approached her, a stern look on her face.

“Ivy, who were you calling?”

“A friend. They were wishing me a happy birthday.”

“A reasonable excuse,” her mom said, “If the door bolt hadn’t inexplicably fallen down while we were trying to unlock it.”

“Really? I didn’t notice. Must’ve been the wind.”

“You’re trying to keep us from finding something out, aren’t you?” her dad continued, “You weren’t trying to call that game show guy, were you?”

“No, I was just watching the show, I swear!”

“We’ll talk about this later, sweetie,” her mom said, her angry expression suddenly turning to a smile, “Because we’ve got you an extra special present!”

“Really? What is it?”

Ivy was suspicious. Her parents were acting uncharacteristically happy.

“We’ve decided to let you go on your own Pokémon journey!” her dad said happily, “We’re even going to give you a Pokémon!”

Ivy became even more concerned. There were definitely going to be some strings attached. They would never give the family disappointment a free Pokémon without any extra requirements.

“But how about we wait until your favourite TV show finishes?” Ivy’s mom said condescendingly. Her parents had never been fans of the trivia quiz shows she loved.

“Okay, I guess…”

After the program ended, Ivy’s parents led her into the kitchen, where there was a cheap store-bought birthday cake on the table. They went through the motions of the happy birthday sing song and ate some slices of cake, before Ivy’s mom took a Poké Ball out and placed it on the table.

“Okay sweetie, this is the Pokémon we got for you! All you need to do to get it is use your telekinesis to lift it towards you!” Ivy’s mom told her.

“This should be easy for someone like you, after what you did with the door earlier!” her dad helpfully commented.

He was right. Something like this should be easy for someone like her. She’d trained for years to try and master her powers. Focusing on the Poké Ball, she lifted it into the air. That was the easy part. Now all she had to do was pull it towards her. She tried to focus all her power into getting that dang ball to move, but like every other time, nothing happened. About half the stuff in the room had started to float, but nothing useful was happening. It was just like every other time. She had failed. She tried one last time to get the Poké Ball to come to her, exerting all her mental force to pull it into her outstretched hand. She had to do it. She had to.

Ivy woke up a few minutes later on the floor. Her parents were staring down at her, disappointed. She had clearly failed, again. She picked herself up and her parents handed her a large blue rucksack that had clearly seen a lot of use. She knew this because it was in fact her rucksack that she'd had for years.

“We’ve packed your bag with everything you’d need for a journey!” Ivy’s mom said, “Since you’re the trainer and not us, we’ve given you a couple hundred pokédollars, I’m sure you’ll know how to spend them. You’ll also find we’ve given you a Pokémon perfect for someone of your caliber, and a couple gifts from some other relatives.”

“Uhh… Thanks?”

“So, we hope you have lots of fun on your journey!” her dad added.

“Wait… I can leave now?”

“As soon as you want, sweetie!” her mom replied.

“Lemme just go pack a couple things,” Ivy said, heading to her room with her bag.

After finding her map of Galar and a couple books she wanted to take with her, she decided to take the opportunity to check out what was in her bag. True to their word, her parents had left her a small amount of money to buy her own supplies, and someone had given her a pair of socks. Then there was a single Poké Ball, and a wrapped up gift with a card on it. She eagerly tore through the wrapping paper to find a battered old box. Inside said box was a dynamax band. It was obviously second hand, judging by the custom paint job someone had inflicted on it, but whoever sent it had taken the effort to at least clean it. 

She had a look at the card that came with it. Of course, it was from her cousin Laurie. That would explain why the band was an obnoxious shade of pink. As usual, he had crossed out the generic happy birthday message on the inside of the card and replaced it with his own message:

_Hey Ivy!_

_I hope you have a great 16th birthday! Your parents let me know you were going to try and do the Galar league, so I thought you might want my old dynamax band! Don't worry about me, I can just ask Avery for another one. Did I mention I recently became one of his gym trainers? I doubt you'll get to the eighth gym, but if you do then it'll be nice seeing you there!_

_From Laurie_

Of course he had. Laurie was the darling of the family, with his potent psychic powers and battling skills. He was that sort of person who succeeded at everything, but was too nice to justify feeling jealous about. Ivy almost wished he was secretly evil or something, just to give her an excuse to hate him. At least she had a dynamax band now.

The last thing left to do was to look inside the Poké Ball. Ivy wondered what Pokémon she would be getting. It probably wouldn't be anything good, but hopefully it would be decent. Imagining a dramatic song playing in her head, she picked up the poké ball and pressed the button.

Out popped a small, blue and yellow bug Pokémon. It seemed happy to have been let out, and crawled over Ivy before falling off her arm and landing on the floor. It looked around the room, examining its surroundings. 

Ivy stared at it, half perplexed and half annoyed. A Blipbug. Her parents had given her a Blipbug. They expected her to take on the Galar league with a fricking Blipbug. Wait, no they weren't. They were expecting her to fail miserably and come crawling back to them like a bug. Well she wasn't going to be squashed so easily. There had to be a way and she was going to find it. She would be the one who took on the world with all the odds against her and won. She was Ivy McKee, the world's worst psychic, and this was the start of her epic journey!

...It was then she realised she should probably get to know the small bug Pokémon she'd been saddled with.

"Erm, hey there, little guy?"

Ivy offered her hand to the Blipbug. It happily scuttled on and she placed it back on her bed.

 _Hi,_ she heard a small voice saying. Ivy stared at the Blipbug.

"Wait… You can talk?"

The Blipbug shook its tiny head.

"Wait… Some Blipbug have telepathy, right?"

 _What's a telepathy?_ The small voice responded.

"Erm, it's where you can tell what someone else is thinking and talk to them with your mind and stuff."

The Blipbug seemed to gasp in realization.

 _Oh, right. So you giving yourself a speech was real…_ Ivy looked awkwardly at the perceptive little bugmon.

"...I guess?"

 _You said you were called I freed the Kee?_ The Blipbug asked.

"Not quite, it's Ivy McKee."

 _Oops, sorry. Hello Ivy McKee._ The Blipbug looked extremely pleased with itself.

"You can call me Ivy."

 _Okay. I'm Blipbug,_ the Blipbug said matter of factly.

"Right, I should give you a proper name. Hmm… You seem like a Marcus. How does that sound?"

_Sure. So what now?_

"We're going on a journey! Do you want to go back in your Poké Ball, or do you want to sit on me or something?"

Marcus responded by crawling on Ivy's head.

"This is going to take some getting used to… Okay then, let's get going."

Ivy slung her rucksack on and stopped to look in the mirror. She looked like a proper Pokémon trainer now, but she looked kind of weird with a Blipbug sitting there on her head.

 _What does weird mean again? Are you thinking mean things about me?_ Marcus said. This was going to get tiring.

"I'll tell you later…"

Ivy headed to the entrance hall, where her parents were waiting to see her off. The door was already wide open.

“I see you got the Pokémon! Isn’t it cute?” her mom said.

“I’ve heard Blipbug are very smart Pokémon!” her dad added.

“Yeah, this is Marcus,” Ivy said, heading through the door.

“Heey, aren’t you going to give your mommy a hug?” her mom said condescendingly.

“Fine,” Ivy said. Her mom immediately squeezed her in a lukewarm and aggressively tight embrace that left Ivy gasping for air. Ivy said goodbye to them both and headed out of her front garden.

“Bye sweetie!” her mom yelled, waving.

“Don’t forget, you can always come back and learn to be a better psychic if you fail miserably!” her dad chimed in helpfully. Ivy tried to ignore that last comment.

Finally she was off, heading out of Postwick and onto Route 1. There was going to be a long road ahead, but she’d manage it, somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have a schedule for this. I'll just post chapters when I can.


	3. A Chance Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While training her Blipbug, Ivy runs into another new trainer and shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone! 2020 is finally over! I've also finally finished this chapter!

Things were not going well. Ivy had spent the past few hours losing over and over again against the weakest of route 1 Pokémon. The only things Marcus had been able to defeat were other Blipbug. She was certain the Wedgehurst Pokémon center was already sick of her showing up every twenty minutes or so. She’d received the money and endorsement she’d won, but she was seriously considering giving them back. There was definitely someone out there who deserved them more than she did.

_ Don’t be so hard on yourself,  _ Marcus tried to reassure her,  _ It’s not your fault your parents made things hard. _

“No, if I could just get my telekinesis to actually work, then I wouldn’t be in this mess,” Ivy sighed, sitting sadly on the slightly soggy grass, “But now I can’t just go back or they’ll be worse than ever…”

_ Is a telekinesis like telepathy or something? _ Marcus asked.

“Well, they’re both psychic abilities,” Ivy explained, “But telekinesis is more like… You can move stuff with your mind. You’ll probably be able to do it if you evolve.”

_ Cool! What does it look like?  _ Marcus looked up at her curiously.

“Fine, I’ll show you, I’m really bad at it though.”

Ivy took out Marcus’ Poké Ball and levitated it a meter or so in the air. Marcus stared at it as if he’d never seen a psychic type before. Ivy was about to ask whether he even knew his parents when something slammed into the back of her head. She picked herself up before grabbing the Poké Ball that had been unceremoniously flung in her direction.

“Hey? What was that for?” Ivy half-yelled, looking around.

“Oh my! I’m terribly sorry, I was trying to catch this Yamper, but I was distracted by what I thought was a floating Poké Ball!” someone behind her said.

Ivy turned around to see a girl her age who looked like she had gotten lost on her way to a formal dinner party. She stood there in a pale pink dress covered by a white cardigan. True to her word, her Galarian Ponyta had clearly just been battling a Yamper, who was still facing its opponent, daring her to throw another Poké Ball.

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s my fault for sitting here!” Ivy said.

“No, I sincerely apologize. Is there any way I can- Hey! That’s my bag!” the girl exclaimed as the wild Yamper snatched what was presumably her bag and ran off towards Wedgehurst.

“Dang, I’m so sorry,” Ivy apologized again.

“Why are you sorry? I should have known not to leave my bag on the ground like that. Anyway, I’ll just buy a new one.”

“No, you don’t have to do that! I’ll help you get your bag back!”

“Really? I’m grateful for your offer, but It would be far easier to just buy a new one.”

“No, I insist. If I hadn’t made that Poké Ball float, you wouldn’t be in this mess now. Anyway, can you really replace everything in your bag that easily?”

“Well, yes I don’t have any other Poké- Wait a second, how could I have forgotten about my Poryphone?! Okay, I’ll accept your offer. You know what my bag looks like, don’t you?”

“Duh! It was a pink leather bag with a Mew keychain, right?”

“I guess you have a better memory than I do,” the girl said, turning to her Ponyta, “Juliet, you’re okay for now, right?”

The Ponyta nodded.

“Okay then, let’s head to Wedgehurst!” the girl said, beginning to walk towards Postwick.

“Erm, that way leads to Postwick,” Ivy pointed out.

“Right, thank you. Wait, I never asked for your name.”

“It’s Ivy.”

“Pleased to meet you, Ivy. My name is Emily. Anyways, how about you lead the way to Wedgehurst?”

“Erm, sure,” Ivy said. She knew the way far too well already.

The pair headed into Wedgehurst. It was surprisingly quiet, like how Ivy remembered it when she was younger. In recent years, Wedgehurst had become quite popular with tourists because it contained the closest train station to Postwick, which had become famous after the events involving Zacian and Zamazenta. Of course, Wedgehurst was also where Galar’s Pokémon research lab was, which attracted quite a few science types. Today, however, the only people who seemed to be around were locals. The lack of crowds would’ve made it easier to spot a Yamper carrying a bag, but it still managed to elude them.

_ What’s a “low cal”? Maybe they could help? _ Marcus asked, making Emily jump.

“Wait, what was that?!” Emily yelped, looking around anxiously.

“Don’t worry, it’s just my Blipbug, Marcus. He can talk using telepathy.”

“Phew, it’s not a ghost. Wait, how can a Bug type do that?”

“Telepathy is the hidden ability of the Blipbug line!”

“Fascinating.”

_ Erm, I still don’t know what a “low cal” is, _ Marcus chimed in.

“Oh, right, I meant local,” Ivy explained.

“Sorry, what were we about to do again?” Emily asked.

“I think we should ask one of the locals if they saw the Yamper,” Ivy said.

_ Hey! That was my idea! _

“Okay, fine. Marcus thinks we should ask one of the locals if they saw the Yamper,” Ivy corrected herself.

“I wonder who we should ask?” Emily pondered, “I guess, if the Yamper went by here, the people who are just walking by now would be less likely to have seen it. In that case it would probably be best to ask someone who would have been here to see it. I know! We could ask that gentleman at the berry stand!”

“I guess so.”

Without thinking twice, Emily strode confidently up to the berry salesman at his stand.

"Excuse me Sir, but have you seen a Yamper run through here carrying a violet-coloured bag?"

The salesman looked slightly surprised.

"Erm..." he said, "I've seen plenty of Yampers wander through here, but none of them were carrying a bag."

“Sorry dearie, but did you say a Yamper stole your bag?” asked an elderly woman who had just arrived, “You wouldn’t be the only one. This Yamper’s worse than a Nickit! There are rumors it keeps its hoard on route 2, but no-one’s been able to find it…”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to be the first ones then. Thank you for the help!” Emily said, turning away, “Come on, Ivy! Which way is route 2 again?”

The pair quickly made it to route 2, the only delay being caused by Emily pausing to admire the architecture of the town. They headed down the path and sat by the lake to formulate a plan.

“I’d forgotten how beautiful this lake was,” Emily said, “It’s been years since my family and I visited.”

“I guess it’s been a while for me too, but weren’t we looking for something?”

“Right, my bag.” Emily began to pace up and down, “Seeing as no-one’s been able to find this Yamper’s hoard, it’s probably not going to be somewhere obvious, like by the main path. But it’s probably not across the lake, unless this Yamper is a particularly good swimmer. I’d say it’s likely there’s a nook somewhere that’s small enough to go unnoticed by humans, but big enough to fit a Yamper and some stolen goods!”

“Makes sense, but how are we gonna check all the possible places?”

Emily stopped her pacing.

“Hmmm… Wait, I’ve got it! You have a phone, right?”

Ivy took her old brick phone out of her pocket, “Does this count?”

“That phone can call another phone, can’t it?”

“That’s pretty much all it can do.”

“Phew. Okay, I’ll give you my number then.”

“Erm… I’m sorry but I don’t quite understand?” Ivy said, confused.

“I just need you to call my phone so I can listen out for its ringtone.”

“Oh, right, yeah! Okay, I guess we could give it a shot! What’s your number?”

Emily pulled a notebook out of her pocket and hurriedly flipped through the pages.

“Give me a minute…”

Almost half an hour and many phone calls later, they were still no closer to finding Emily’s bag.

“I’m so sorry…” Ivy sighed, trying to call Emily’s phone again.

“What are you apologizing for?” Emily asked, “You didn’t- Wait, quiet! I think I can hear it!”

Ivy listened closely, but couldn’t hear anything.

“Are you sure you’re not just hearing thin-”

“I said be quiet! I’m trying to figure out where it’s coming from!”

Emily looked around, before suddenly running to the water’s edge. Sure enough, Ivy could now also hear the faint ringing. Unfortunately it stopped before they could pinpoint where exactly it was coming from.

"I wonder why we can hear it here? Could that Yamper really have swam across the lake? But then how is your phone still working?” Ivy pondered, looking around, “Wait, look!”

Ivy pointed to a small hole in the hill, the shallow water splashing in and out of it.

“Oh yes! Thank you! Wait, can you call my phone one more time, just to make sure?” Emily asked.

Ivy sighed and dialed the number again. As expected, the ringing was coming from the hole.

“Now you can just use your telekinesis to float my bag out, right?”

“Um… Erm… Well, I mean I…” Ivy stumbled over her words.

“You were the one who made that Poké Ball float, right? Isn’t that telekinesis?”

“Well, it is, but…”

Of course she’d never be able to just leave it all behind. Ivy was a failure of a psychic, and that’s all she’d ever be.

_ I think what Ivy’s trying to get across by all the horrible things she’s saying is that she’s not very good at it yet,  _ Marcus interrupted her train of thought.

“I’m sorry, what was Ivy saying? I didn’t hear anything,” Emily said.

"Can you please not narrate my thoughts to a random stranger?" Ivy said, giving Marcus a withering look. Emily seemed slightly offended at being called a random stranger.

"Well, I guess I'll have to do it myself then," Emily said resolutely, taking off her cardigan and handing it to her Ponyta, "Juliet, look after my things, please."

Emily’s Ponyta stepped away from the edge of the water, the cardigan resting on its back.

"Wait, surely there's another way we can do this? You'll ruin your dress!" Ivy said, concerned.

"Don't worry, I can just drop it off at the dry cleaners in Motostoke!" Emily said, before attempting to squeeze herself into the hole.

"Oh dear, it's too dark to see- Owww!" Emily exclaimed, seemingly having been zapped by something inside the den.

The struggle began. Or at least, it looked like a struggle from where Ivy was. All she could see was a pair of legs sticking out of a hole while presumably the rest of Emily was trying to fend off an angry Yamper.

"Oh, stop it you-"

"YaaaamPER!"

Emily backed out of the hole slightly.

"Wait, there it is! Maybe if I-"

Emily began crawling further into the hole as the Yamper attacked again.

"You are a rude thing, aren't you! Owww! Good thing I packed a first aid kit! Wait, that's in my bag."

Emily pushed herself further into the tunnel, to the point where Ivy could only hear what was going on.

"See, I'm not just going to give up! No matter how hard you hit me!"

Ivy continued to listen intently. In a strange turn of events, the Yamper's distressed barking seemed to stop.

"Oh, you like headpats? Would you like more? Good boy! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?"

Suddenly the Yamper yelped in surprise. A few seconds later the faint clicking of a Poké Ball could be heard.

"Phew. Okay, where are you now? Here you are. Porygon, are you alright?” 

Ivy could hear a Porygon beeping happily

“Phew!” Emily continued, “Okay, please turn the torch on so I can see where we are."

A faint light came out of the hole.

"Wow, that's a lot of things. This Yamper must have been busy. Anyway, we should get out."

Slowly, Emily started to emerge feet first from the hole again, managing to get about half of herself out before stopping abruptly.

"Are you okay? You need me to pull you out or anything?"

"No, I'm fine! I can do this!"

Emily struggled for a few minutes to little avail.

"I guess I'm stuck. Fiddlesticks. Can you give me a hand please?"

"Erm, okay."

Ivy waded into the shallow water. Marcus hopped off her head to go and wait with Juliet on the dry land.

"Okay, I'm gonna try and pull you out, are you ready?"

"Yes, but please be careful, I happen to be very-"

As soon as Ivy tried to grab Emily's ankle, she began to squirm.

"...ticklish."

"Well, this is going to make things harder."

"I'll try not to squirm this time. Maybe if you try holding on to my shoes?"

"Okay, I'll give it a go."

"If you let me know when you're going to pull, I'll try and push with my free hand too."

“Let’s give this a shot.”

Ivy managed to get a solid grip on Emily’s shoes.

“On my count. One, two, three!”

Ivy gave a powerful tug. Emily came flying out of the hole and Ivy fell over backwards from the force.

"Not the most dignified of escapes, but at least I've got my bag now," Emily said, picking herself up.

The two of them were soaking wet. Emily was also covered in dirt from her scuffle with the Yamper. Her arms were covered in marks from where it had attacked her.

"Hey, you in the lake! Are you two alright?" A voice coming from the path called.

Ivy and Emily looked up to see a woman who looked to be in her mid twenties. She had wavy red hair and wore a lab coat. They both recognised her instantly.

“Professor Sonia?!” they exclaimed in unison.

“Yup, that’s me!” Sonia said, smiling, “So, what’s a pair of young trainers like yourselves doing wading around in the lake?”

“Oh, nothing much. My friend and I were just retrieving my bag from a particularly larcenous Yamper,” Emily explained, heading out of the water. Ivy followed suit shortly after.

“Well, I’m assuming by the fact you seem to be carrying a bag that you managed to get it back, right?” Sonia asked.

“Indeed. I got into a bit of a scrap with it, but everything’s fine now.”

“Okay! I guess I’ll be on my merry way then-” Sonia paused, “Wait, are your arms okay? They look like they’ve gone through quite the ordeal.”

Emily looked down at her arms, only now realizing that they had been injured quite badly.

“Erm, I’m sure I’ll be just fine!”

Sonia shook her head.

“You really need to get those wounds cleaned up,” she said, concerned, “My gran’s house is just down the path and I’ve got plenty of medical supplies there.”

“Don’t worry! I was given a first aid kit for a reason!” Emily said, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a soaked first aid kit, “On second thought, I accept your offer.”

“It’s settled then! Follow me. Your friend can come along too!”

“You’re talking about her Ponyta, right?” Ivy asked.

“No, silly! Of course, the Pokémon are invited too,” Sonia replied.

“Um, okay,” Ivy said.

Sonia led the pair down the path to Professor Magnolia’s house. An hour or so later, Ivy and Emily were sitting together at a table in the garden. Sonia had invited them inside, but Ivy refused. She didn’t want to just walk into a stranger’s house, no matter how famous the stranger was. Emily had gone inside, and had emerged a while later in a new (and cleaner) dress, with her arms covered in sleeves of bandages. Sonia insisted they stay for a curry, seeing as it was lunch time. Emily’s Ponyta was sitting on the grass and Marcus was sleeping on Ivy’s head.

“Father told me to always pack spare clothes. I guess it was going to pay off eventually,” Emily mused, sipping the tea she had bought out with her, “Hopefully this one will last until I can get to a dry cleaner’s.”

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to dive in any more holes.”

“Yes, though I can’t guarantee anything.”

They both paused awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure of what to say next.

“So,” Emily broke the silence, “Why did you stay?”

“Stay?” Ivy replied, confused.

“You could have left when that Yamper ran away, or when we couldn’t find my bag, or after helping me out of the hole, or while Sonia was bandaging my arms. But you didn’t. I was just wondering why.”

Ivy thought for a while.

“Well, I guess I just wanted to make sure everything got fixed, seeing as this mess was my fault to begin with.”

“Why would it be your fault?”

“If I hadn’t made that Poké Ball float, you wouldn’t have gotten distracted and lost your bag.”

_ If you’re using that logic then it’s my fault. You were just demonstrating what “telly can eat sis” was because I asked, _ Marcus added, surprising Ivy.

"It's telekinesis. But I still shouldn't have gone along with it."

"The curry's ready!" Sonia called.

Sonia emerged from the house carrying three plates of steaming salad curry. It smelled delicious, as one would expect from one of the best amateur curry chefs in the region. Sonia wasn’t just the Pokémon Professor, after all. Ivy dug right into the meal as soon as the plate hit the table. She’d hardly been hungry until a few minutes ago, but now she was ravenous. The curry had a wonderfully rounded flavour. The slightly spicy flavour tickled at the back of her throat, while the hint of sweetness was balanced out by a sour kick. It was truly a culinary masterpiece. After devouring half of her plate, she looked up to see Emily staring at her in horror, while transferring some of her curry onto a side plate to give to her Ponyta. Sonia also looked surprised by her enthusiasm. Ivy berated herself internally for her terrible manners.

“I’m so sorry about that! The curry was so good I couldn’t help myself,” Ivy half panicked. She may have embarrassed herself in front of a national celebrity and someone who was clearly far richer than her, but she wasn’t going to take it lying down. She was going to try her darndest to save their opinion of her.

“Oh, it’s okay! I’m glad you like the curry!” Sonia smiled.

“Indeed, the curry is delightful, Professor.” Emily said to Sonia, “It’s safe for Pokémon to eat, I presume?”

“Yes! That’s one of the reasons I decided to make salad curry.”

“Perfect! Here you go, Juliet!” Emily said, placing her side plate down in front of the Ponyta.

“Marcus, you want any?” Ivy asked, attempting to look up at Marcus, who fell off her head onto the back of her chair before crawling over Ivy to get on top of the table.

_ Yeah, can I have some? _ Marcus responded. Ivy nodded and Marcus started nibbling at the corner of the curry. Sonia raised her eyebrows.

“So, your Blipbug has its hidden ability? Where did you find it?”

“I don’t know, my parents caught it for me. Marcus is my first and only Pokémon.”

“Your parents sent you out with just a Blipbug? Hidden ability or not, that’s pretty rough,” Sonia turned to Emily, “I take it you’re also a new trainer?”

“Indeed,” Emily nodded, “This is Juliet, my starter. There’s also Hermes, but he’s resting in his Poké Ball right now. What happened in that hole by the river was a harrowing experience for the both of us.”

“Well, Juliet looks like she’ll grow up to be a beautiful Rapidash, if you raise her well.”

“Thank you, Professor!” Emily smiled.

“Yeah, Rapidash are really cool!” Ivy added.

The meal continued in silence for a few minutes.

“So, how long have you two known each other?” Sonia asked unexpectedly. Ivy and Emily looked awkwardly at each other.

“Only a few hours. We met earlier today,” Emily said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah,” Ivy added.

“I couldn’t tell. You two seem like good friends.”

“Well, I never said we weren’t friends,” Emily mentioned.

Ivy was surprised. Did Emily really consider her a friend already? They’d only known of each other’s existence for a few hours at most, because of an incident that was  _ her _ fault. How could someone like Emily consider someone like her a friend?

_ Maybe because you helped her out and stayed with her? Maybe she’s also lonely? _ Marcus interrupted. Sonia and Emily turned to look at him, confused.

“I wonder what that was all about?” Emily pondered.

“Well, I wouldn’t say we’re friends yet, but you do seem like a nice person!” Ivy said suddenly, trying to change the subject.

“Erm… Thanks?” Emily replied.

Ivy couldn’t tell if Sonia was pleased with the awkward situation she’d created, or whether she felt as awkward as they did.

_ If it helps, I think it’s a mix of both, _ Marcus added.

“It must be pretty awkward having a Pokémon that can hear what you’re thinking all the time,” Sonia smiled.

“Yeah, it’s gonna take some getting used to…” Ivy laughed before finishing the last few morsels still on her plate. Emily finished her food a few minutes later.

“Thank you for the wonderful curry, Professor,” Emily said.

“Thanks! It was interesting chatting with you two,” Sonia smiled, “Unfortunately I’ve got to clear things away now. I’ve got an important call in ten minutes about my new book.”

“Sorry for keeping you back,” Ivy apologized.

“Oh, it’s not your fault! Your friend needed first aid and I just happened to be walking past!”

“Oh, that just reminded me of something! Before you go, would you mind signing my copy of  _ Galar: A History _ ?” Emily asked, taking a slightly damp copy of the book and a pen out of her bag.

“Sure, I can do that!” Sonia took the book and pen and hurriedly scrawled her signature on the first page.

“Thank you so much!” Emily said enthusiastically as she retrieved her book, “I’ll be waiting for your new book with baited breath. If it’s anything as good as this one, I know it’ll be an amazing read!”

“Why thank you!” Sonia said, stacking up the plates on the table. Ivy and Emily headed towards the bridge back to Route 2.

“Thanks for the lunch, it was great!” Ivy said, waving.

“Thank you for letting me use your first aid kit for my arms!” Emily added.

“You’re welcome! Good luck on your journeys!” Sonia called back as the pair headed back towards Wedgehurst.

The two walked together, occasionally exchanging small talk. After what felt like only a few minutes, they reached a fork in the path outside Wedgehurst’s Pokémon Center. Ivy paused for a second and took out her map.

“Wait, why are we pausing? Isn’t the train station that way?” Emily asked, pointing down the hill.

“I’m not taking the train. I don’t have any tickets,” Ivy sighed.

“Really? Your parents didn’t buy you a rail pass?” Emily frowned.

“Nah, but I don’t need one. I can walk.”

“But it’s such a long way to even get to the Wild Area!”

“I’ll live.”

Emily started to pace up and down.

“Hmm… I can’t just let you suffer such a hardship…” She stopped abruptly. “It’s settled. I’ll buy you one!”

Ivy was taken aback. Was this girl insane?! 

_ Maybe, _ Marcus responded.

“But they’re so expensive! I know you can probably easily afford this, but please don’t waste your money on someone like me!”

“No, I insist. Please, at least let me buy you a ticket to get to the wild area.”

Ivy sighed. It was obvious Emily couldn’t be reasoned with.

“Okay, it’s a deal. Though please make sure you get the cheapest possible ticket.”

“I can do that. I’ve always wondered what the economy class seats are like…”

True to her word, Emily bought Ivy a one way ticket to the wild area station. They got on the train, and Emily decided to sit opposite Ivy. It seems they were going to be together longer than Ivy had originally predicted, though she was never the sort of psychic who could see the future in any kind of clarity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I can get the next chapter done quicker...


	4. How To Make Curry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivy and Emily run into an aspiring chef after getting lost in the Wild Area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this a while ago, but wanted to find someone to beta read. Thanks to Mofumo for betaing for me!

Ivy stared out of the train window as fields, then forests, then hills went by in a blur. It had been a long time since she’d taken the train somewhere, and it was the first time she’d taken it alone. It was kind of relaxing in a way. She could just sit there and disconnect from reality for a short while. For a few sweet minutes, she didn’t have to do anything. No one was relying on her to get anything done. Chaos seemed to be erupting at the other end of the carriage, but Ivy felt more at peace than she had in a long time.

“Hello? Ivy! We’re here! Are you there?”

Emily was waving her hand in front of her. Ivy snapped back to reality, trying to remember what was going on.

“Wait, we’re at the Wild Area already?” Ivy asked, still slightly disoriented.

“Yes! Now come on, we need to get out before the train leaves!” Emily said, half pulling Ivy out of her seat. Luckily, there was a huge queue coming out of another carriage, so they had plenty of time to get out.

“Did you fall asleep or something?” Emily asked once they made it out of the station. “And here I was thinking I was air-headed.”

“Uhh… Yeah, maybe,” Ivy was going to explain more when she caught a glimpse of the view in front of her. “Woah...”

The wild area stood intimidatingly below her. Even on a cloudy day that would inevitably turn rainy, it looked stunning. There was a light breeze, causing the tall grass to rustle enticingly. The trees of Dappled Grove were full of delicious looking apples, and the watchtower ruins stood ominously over everything. In certain places, beams of energy shot up from the max raid dens, illuminating the nearby areas. In the distance, Ivy could just about make out the steps up to Motostoke. It would be a bit of a trek, but easily doable in an afternoon. Ivy took her map out of her bag, planning her route. It took her a second to realize Emily was still standing next to her. She seemed to be attempting to do something on her Poryphone. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be working.

“Oh no! I really should have bought a portable hotspot with me. This signal is terrible!”

“You okay?” Ivy looked over at Emily.

“I’m trying to get directions across the wild area, but I can’t connect to the internet!”

“Do you need to look at my map?”

“Thank you for the offer, but knowing me I’ll forget the route immediately.”

“Ah. Well, I’m pretty sure it won’t be too hard to just head towards the Motostoke entrance. It’s a pretty big landmark.”

“I guess so, I just want to make sure I avoid the watchtower ruins at all costs.”

“Hmm… In that case you should probably go this way,” Ivy gestured at her map. “You just go down the hill and you’ll get to East Lake Axewell. By that point you shouldn’t be able to miss the Motostoke entrance.”

“That makes sense,” Emily nodded. “Hopefully even I won’t be able to mess that up. Thanks for the help, Ivy!”

Emily sped off into the distance. Ivy checked her map again.

“Come to think of it, that’s probably the fastest route,” Ivy shrugged, and started walking slowly down the same path Emily had gone down.

An hour or so and a few too-close-for-comfort encounters with some wild Pokémon later, Ivy made it down to East Lake Axewell. Or at least, she thought she had. The entrance to Motostoke didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight. She was on a peninsula surrounded by a lake, save for a single bridge. Of course. She had taken a wrong turn and was at South Lake Miloch. Of course she would do that. How stupid of her to think she could navigate.

 _Are you okay?_ Marcus interrupted. Ivy had forgotten he was sitting on her head.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” Ivy sighed, turning back towards the hill. However, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Emily was sitting on the ground with her Ponyta and Yamper. Ivy had never actually seen the Yamper outside of its Poké Ball until now. She wasn’t sure what she had expected it to look like, but it looked like a perfectly normal Yamper, running circles around its trainer. Emily looked up at Ivy and smiled.

“Oh, hello! I guess you took a wrong turn too.”

“Yeah, I did…”

“Me and my Pokémon decided to take a quick break. Care to join us?”

“Sure,” Ivy said, sitting on the grass next to Emily. A faint grumbling could be heard.

“Huh? I must be hungry,” Emily mused.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure that was me,” Ivy mentioned.

“Wait… I just remembered!” Emily exclaimed suddenly, making Ivy jump. “My parents gave me some brand new cooking tools! We could make some curry out here!”

“Are you sure? Well, I have no idea how to make curry, so…”

“Neither do I! But there’s no time like the present to learn!”

“Welp, let’s give it a shot, I guess…”

After a few minutes of rummaging through her bag, Emily pulled out an unexpectedly large cooking pot with a stand to put it on, along with a pack of sausages. After filling the pot with curry ingredients, she dumped the sausages in. A few seconds later she fished it back out to remove the packaging from them, and then put them back in. She went and grabbed some twigs from a nearby tree and piled them up underneath the pot.

“Erm… How are we going to start this fire?” Emily turned to Ivy. 

Ivy shrugged.

“Did you pack some matches or something?”

“I did, but they got soaked in the lake…” Emily sighed, “Do any of your Pokémon know fire type moves?”

Ivy looked up at Marcus and shook her head. Marcus clung on to her hair for dear life, yelping in surprise.

“Nope. Marcus can only use struggle bug and he’s my only Pokémon.”

“I know! I’ll grab a stick and find a fire type to light it!” Emily said triumphantly, grabbing a stick and running for the nearest patch of grass. She returned a few minutes later, slightly singed and carrying a flaming twig. She carefully placed it on top of the pile of sticks and leaves. It took a few minutes, but the rest of the pile eventually caught fire. Pulling out a fan, she was able to grow the flames to a decent size before she held her fan too close and it burst into flames. Emily stared at her handiwork in excitement, with a slightly insane looking grin on her face. Unfortunately she was quickly driven away by the thick clouds of smoke the fire began to emit.

“Oh dear… How am I going to stir the curry when I can’t get close?” Emily sighed, and pulled a large spoon out of her bag, “Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Her attempts to stir the pot from the side the smoke wasn’t coming from weren’t particularly fruitful. The constant repositioning meant she could hardly get any stirring done. Well, aside from the circles she was walking around the pot. 

A few minutes later, she heard some footsteps in the distance. She turned around to see another trainer running straight towards her. He had short, flaming orange hair that seemed to puff out at the sides. She could also make out a dark turquoise jacket and a bright green scarf. He was heading straight towards where Ivy was sitting, but seemed so focused on the curry pot he hadn’t noticed her.

“Look out!” Emily yelled. 

Ivy looked up and raised her hand towards the approaching trainer, who was now only a few metres away. He yelped as he seemed to fly into the air when he took his next step. Unable to stop himself, he flew over the girls’ heads and landed unceremoniously in a bush. Ivy ran over to where he had landed.

“I’m so sorry!” Ivy panicked, “Are you alright?”

“That… Was… Epic!”

Ivy jumped backwards as the trainer suddenly sprung out of the bush. He pulled some foliage out of his hair as a concerned looking Milcery approached the group.

“Chantilly! There you are! I knew you’d be able to catch up!” he said, running over to the Milcery, “Anyway, who are you and how did you do that? Are you one of them psychic people?”

“Erm, kinda…”

“I didn’t realise you were able to lift a person up like that.” Emily said, impressed.

“I didn’t either. I did it once or twice when I was younger, but I thought I’d lost the ability to do that.”

“Anyway, I’m Mike. What can I call you two ladies?”

“I’m Ivy.”

“My name is Emily.”

“Pleased to meet you!” Mike went to inspect the cooking pot, “Hmm… What’s cooking in here? Calyrex’s crown, this is one fancy pot! How much did you pay for this thing?!”

“I have no idea. My parents bought it for me,” Emily commented.

“Well what’s the point of having such expensive tools if you can’t cook a basic curry?!”

Emily was taken aback. Sure, she had never cooked a curry before, but that still hurt. Ivy stood there, wondering who this guy thought he was to come and harass some random people. She didn’t want to start a fight, so she stayed put, just to be on the safe side. Emily meanwhile, was far less restrained.

“Hey! I’ve never cooked a curry before, it was never going to be a culinary masterpiece! There’s no need to be so rude.”

“And here I was about to offer you some help. I’d originally just come down to investigate that impressive tower of smoke,” Mike gestured to the increasingly smoky fire under the pot, “But then I caught a whiff of your culinary disaster and decided I have to at least try and save it.”

“Well then why didn’t you say that first? It would have gone down much better than telling me I can’t cook.”

“I could show you how to make a curry. It’d be a right shame to see such expensive equipment go to waste.”

“Well, fine then.”

Emily threw the spoon she had been using to stir the curry aggressively at Mike. It narrowly missed his face, and his Milcery flew up and caught it.

“Okay. First, we’ll need some berries,” Mike said, as he walked over to a nearby tree. He gave it a hefty kick and a few berries fell out, along with a rather peeved looking Skwovet. He gathered the berries and tossed them into the pot after briefly inspecting them.

“Are you sure those are safe to eat?” Emily asked.

“Don’t worry, I checked for anything super bad,” Mike said nonchalantly. “If we cook this curry hot enough it’ll kill anything else we’d be worried about. Speaking of that…”

He smothered the smoking pile of sticks underneath the curry pot with his boot, extinguishing any flames that were left.

“The sticks you’ve chosen are far too moist. You’ll get nothing but smoke with these. Gimme a hand and we’ll find some better ones,” Mike said, heading over to some trees nearby.

“Fine,” Emily huffed.

After a few minutes of searching, Mike and Emily had amassed a small pile of drier sticks. Mike had also taken some of the leaf litter. He carefully piled them underneath the pot.

“Okay, now I’ll just put the leaves on top aaand…” Mike pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on and held the flame to some of the leaves. They caught fire after a few seconds. “Voila! Now we fan the flames!”

Emily pulled out her burnt fan, and Mike pulled one out of his jacket too.

“Hey, c'mon and join us! I’ve got a spare fan,” Mike said to Ivy, who had been staring into space. “Curries always tend to come out better with more people working on them.”

Ivy accepted the fan, and the three were able to fan the flames to a reasonable size.

“Okay, now we need to stir it!” Mike said, handing Emily’s spoon back to her and handing one of his own to Ivy.

It was far easier to stir the curry now that there was less smoke. It took a few minutes for them to figure out what direction they were all going to stir in, though.

“Come on! Put your hearts into it!” Mike cheered, stirring the curry vigorously. A tiny bit slopped out of the pot onto Ivy’s trousers. “Okay, maybe slightly less heart.”

Marcus crawled off Ivy’s head to sample the curry on her trousers. He took one sip of the sauce, but recoiled after realising how hot it was. He wondered how his trainer didn’t seem to mind the burning hot substance on her trousers, but from what he could tell, her mind was still very much elsewhere. After a while, the three trainers could smell the pleasant aroma of curry coming from the pot.

“Looks like it’s just about done!” Mike said happily. “So, how about a battle while we wait for it to cool down?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ivy said absent-mindedly.

“Nice! I’ve never battled a psychic before!”

“Good luck Ivy!” Emily cheered. “We’ll stay back here and watch the curry.”

Ivy and Mike walked over to a more open area. It was only at this point Ivy realised what she’d just volunteered herself for. She was already bracing herself for the inevitable loss.

“Okay Chantilly, let’s do this!” Mike’s Milcery floated in front of him. Marcus hopped down onto the grass too.

“You can have the first move,” Mike said.

“Erm… Okay then. Marcus, Struggle Bug!”

A greenish aura surrounded Marcus, before it split into smaller glowing particles that flew towards Chantilly. The Milcery tried to fly to the side, but moved too late. The swarm of particles hit her from many different angles.

“Come on Chantilly! You’ve got this! Tackle!” Mike exclaimed.

Chantilly charged into Marcus, knocking him backwards.

“Quick, follow it up!” Mike yelled.

“Heads up!” Ivy exclaimed.

Marcus looked up as Chantilly charged him again, and unleashed another Struggle Bug right in her face.

“This is our chance! Sweet kiss!”

Before Marcus could react, Chantilly aggressively kissed the side of his head. He stumbled backwards as the move began to take effect. His vision blurred and the world seemed to spin. Chantilly giggled as she floated in circles around him.

“Marcus, you okay?” Ivy asked, concerned. Marcus nodded drunkenly. “In that case, Struggle Bug again!”

Marcus tried to aim his attack at his opponent, but the glowing green particles seemed to fly in random directions.

“Tackle!”

Chantilly’s creamy body slammed into Marcus head on. He was thrown backwards, and struggled to get back up. If he didn’t snap out of this soon, this battle was lost.

“You’ve got this Marcus, Struggle Bug!” He heard Ivy shouting. He knew she didn’t have as much faith in him as she claimed. He could tell by her thoughts.

“Tackle again!”

Then the idea struck him. He paused and tried to focus on the various different thoughts around him. That could give him some idea of where that Milcery was.

For a split second, he was able to get a hold on her position, and unleashed his attack at that point. It didn’t stop Chantilly from ramming into him, but she was hit hard too. Finally, his vision began to clear.

“Struggle Bug!”

Marcus snapped out of his confusion, and managed to land another direct hit. Both combatants looked like they were only a few hits away from fainting.

“Let’s finish this. Chantilly, use Tackle!”

“You can do it Marcus, Struggle Bug, one last time!”

Chantilly flew towards Marcus with all the force she could muster, while Marcus sent a flurry of particles flying towards Chantilly. The attacks collided in dramatic fashion. 

The two Pokémon stood by each other, exhausted from the fight. Neither could fight on, but both stubbornly refused to keel over.

“I think we should end it here and call it a draw,” Mike smiled. “That was a good battle.”

Ivy nodded.

“Yeah, I think we should. You were clearly the better trainer though.”

Upon hearing that the battle was over, Marcus and Chantilly promptly fainted. Ivy and Mike rushed over to pick up their Pokémon, and Mike took a revival herb out of his pocket.

“You want one? They’re home grown from my family’s farm in Turffield.”

Ivy took the herb and offered it to Marcus. He weakly took a few bites out of the leaf. Mike gave another herb to Chantilly. A few seconds later they both seemed to regain their energy, if only to spit the bitter herb back out as quickly as possible. Ivy remembered the one time she tried to eat a revival herb as a kid, and understood why the Pokémon didn’t seem particularly fond of them.

“Wow…” Ivy thought out loud. “That was… Effective.”

“I know, right?” Mike turned to his Milcery. “I’m so sorry about that, Chantilly. Let’s get you and that Blipbug some proper food.”

Ivy and Mike carried Marcus and Chantilly back to where they had been cooking. Emily and her Pokémon seemed to have gotten bored of watching the curry, and Emily was now playing fetch with her Yamper. Fortunately, nothing had happened to the curry. Mike and Emily both took two plates out of their bag and offered one to Ivy. She stood there awkwardly for about half a minute, not wanting to offend either of them.

 _Hey, I could have one of the plates,_ Marcus suggested.

“Wait, did your Blipbug just speak?!” Mike yelped. Marcus visibly sighed.

_It’s telepathy…_

“Epic!”

Ivy took both plates and spooned curry onto them. She sat down with Emily’s plate, and put Mike’s plate down by Marcus. Emily and Mike followed suit, dishing out curry for themselves and their Pokémon. They sat together on the grass and dug into their food.

“This curry… It’s… Simply amazing!” Mike exclaimed. “The complicated flavours woven delicately together produce what I can only call the taste of a freshly made friendship. The beginning of a great adventure. Such a beautiful and mysterious flavour. The taste of brewing trouble and adventure! So… What do you two think?”

“It’s not too bad, but it’s slightly too spicy for my liking,” Emily commented.

“Same here,” Ivy added.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time!” Mike didn’t seem fazed by the criticism.

In spite of the spiciness, everyone finished their curry.

“And now, the most tedious part of cooking. Cleaning everything up afterwards!” Mike took his cooking utensils and headed towards the lake.

“So, you clean them in the lake?” Emily asked.

“Do you see any sinks around here?” Mike replied sarcastically.

Emily hauled the cooking pot over to the lake, and Ivy took some of the remaining things. It took about ten minutes to wash and dry everything. Emily stuffed her cooking supplies back into her bag, and Mike did likewise with his.

“So, are you two doing the gym challenge this year?” Mike asked.

“Yes, both of us are,” Emily responded. “We’ll be heading to Motostoke once we’re done here, as a matter of fact.”

“Oh, nice! I’ll see you there,” Mike said. “Chantilly and I are going to do a bit more training before we head up there.”

Ivy and Emily waved goodbye to Mike. They were about to go their separate ways when it started to rain.


End file.
